The Drug War Kills Innocent People

It
seems the ends justifies any means in the 'war on drugs' these days, even if
that means civil rights are trampled and innocent people killed.

The mental gyrations law officials and politicians engage in to support their
draconian drug policies are crazy. Take, for instance, the case of Golden
doctor James Metzger, whose $ 40,000 Lexus was taken by the Drug Enforcement
Agency in April because the agency thought Metzger might have illegally filled
drug prescriptions.

Metzger had not been charged at the time his car was taken, much less convicted of
criminal acts. But Metzger used his car to drive to the pharmacy, which was enough
for the DEA to charge the car itself with committing a crime in order to
confiscate it for the agency's own benefit.

Forfeiture laws that allow inanimate objects to be charged with a crime are
just a convenient technique for pushing that pesky Fourth Amendment out of the
way so that law officials can take people's property without even filing
criminal charges, much less having to prove a case in court.

But the case of the criminal Lexus is trivial, compared with the Sept. 29
killing of Ismael Mena by a Denver SWAT team. Mena was a 45-year-old father of
nine. Based on information from a drug informant, the police obtained a
'no-knock' entry warrant, busted into Mena's home without announcement, and
shot Mena dead, riddling his body with eight bullets.

Months after the killing, Denver police aren't even sure they had the right
address. No illegal drugs were found in Mena's home or body, and Mena's family
and neighbors swear he was an honest, law-abiding man.

Unfortunately, drug informants are often unreliable. In drug cases, 'confidential
informants' are almost always drug dealers or drug addicts; the addicts get money to
feed their habit by supplying police accusations against other people.

In the past, the police would be required to independently corroborate accusations.
But in the 1980s, the U.S. and Colorado Supreme Courts eliminated the requirement
that police corroborate accusations before getting a search warrant.

With no more evidence than an anonymous poison-pen letter, or the claims of a
drunk, the police can now smash into your home in the middle of the night,
wearing masks and waving submachine guns. And if you mistakenly believe the
unannounced invaders pointing guns at your children are gangsters or burglars
out to attack your family, you might tell your spouse to dial 911 while you
hold off the invaders with your firearm.

And then, the invaders will kill you, like they did Ismael Mena. Like they did
Donald Scott, a California millionaire whose mansion was targeted for a
midnight raid because of deliberately fabricated claims that he was growing marijuana
on his ranch.

Just because you are unarmed and offer no resistance, though, is no guarantee that
you'll live.

Just ask the family of Scott Bryant, who was shot dead by no-knock raiders in a
trailer park in Wisconsin. Just ask the family of the late Rev. Acelyne
Williams - a 70-year-old drug counselor who died of a heart attack after masked
men broke into his Boston apartment, chased him into his bedroom, shoved him
to the floor and pointed guns at his head while screaming at him.
The masked men were from Boston police's drug squad, and had targeted Williams'
apartment solely because of what a drunk 'confidential informant' told them.

The problem is not the split-second decisions that individual police officers
make during a raid.

The problem is pandering politicians and irresponsible judges who set the stage
for these tragedies, by sacrificing constitutional safeguards on the altar of the
drug war.

In 1998, Colorado State Sen. Jim Congrove (a former undercover narcotics police
detective) offered legislation to impose some regulation on no-knock raids, but
the bill was shot down by lobbying from the District Attorneys Association.

While the objective of a 'drug free' society is as far away as ever, the drug
war is making America an unfree society.

It doesn't matter whether you're a rich white man in California who doesn't use
drugs, a black minister in Boston who doesn't use drugs, or a Hispanic father
of nine in Denver who doesn't use drugs. There is nothing you can do to keep
yourself safe from the drug war.

Ari Armstrong is the editor of the Colorado Freedom Report, a web-based libertarian magazine.
Dave Kopel is research director at the Independence Institute of Golden. Kopel
is a former New York City prosecutor.

Make a donation to support Dave Kopel's work in defense of constitutional
rights and public safety.

Nothing written here is to be construed as
necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an
attempt to influence any election or legislative action. Please send
comments to Independence Institute, 727 East 16th Ave., Colorado 80203. Phone 303-279-6536. (email) webmngr @ i2i.org